This evening I had the privilege to spend some time with a wonderful group of ladies for a more than wonderful cause. More on that in just a minute…

Supper

For supper, I boiled a few eggs and baked some chicken to shred and made a quick chicken salad with a little mayo, brown spicy mustard and pickle relish. For those of you that have seen this trick on Pinterest, it WORKS! Pinterest Pass with flying colors! I enjoyed a handful of mixed nuts while I was mixing together my chicken salad and then sprinkled a few on top as well.

Now back to my wonderful evening!

The beautiful Wendy Wilson hosted a Noonday Collection Style Show Adoption Fundraiser to help support her friend Erin’s adoption. Erin and her husband are adopting Lincoln (15 months) and Piper (6 months) from Africa and Wendy and her husband adopted the precious Roxie Kyle a few months ago as well (and are in the process of adopting little Hudson) so adoption is extremely close to her heart.

Isn’t she gorgeous?!

Noonday Collection was founded by Joe and Jessica Honegger in 2010 after a visit to Uganda and their own personal decision to adopt from Rwanda as a means to raise money for the costly adoption process.

From their website:

At Noonday Collection, we believe every child belongs in a family. While the owner is no longer raising money for their Rwandan adoption (though they think more adoptions will come), the vision remains the same. We advocate for the orphan by:

Providing jobs that create a pathway out of poverty for families. A stable income means a family is less likely to abandon their child.

Help families raise money for their own adoptions. We give 10% of trunk show sales directly to the adoptive family when they host a trunk show.

Aside from donating 10% towards qualified adoptive families, Noonday Collection also gives towards orphan care and prevention. Watch the video to see one of our beneficiaries.

The dream: Take YOU on a trip to visit artisans and visit orphans in their distress.

Who wouldn’t want to support this?! And all of the jewelry and accessories that make up Noonday Collection are truly unique pieces that you aren’t going to find anywhere else.

You can see Lincoln and Piper there!

Sorry for the blurry pics, but here’s the snacks🙂

Even shoes!

Our Noonday Collection Ambassador Kayce explained to us the founding and history of Noonday and how the whole program works and also showed us several of the pieces on display as well as in the catalog which was FULL of great accessories.

Wendy, Kayce, and Erin

If you have any questions about Noonday or want more information, please let me know and I will be more than happy to let you know more! It was a wonderful evening, like I said, and I can’t wait to see Lincoln and Piper in person!

When I got back home, this happened.

Before you freak out, it is in fact a worm and not a snake, but still.

After Ryman went to bed, I managed to crank out a 2 1/2 mile run and a quick arm circuit-12 reps of bicep curls, tricep extensions, hammer curls, and tricep kickbacks and I did 3 rounds of that. I also completely my 100 sit-ups for the day. Woo!

On a side note, my blog will be getting a face lift tomorrow forcing me to be out of commission until Saturday so PLEASE be sure to check back in on Saturday and hopefully a new and improved, fresh-faced Sugar Coated Sheridan will await you.

I wish I’d had my camera with me when I opened up my baby boy’s door this morning. Most of the time, he’s partially awake but I think he’s going to be just like his Mama and make getting out of bed and mornings in general the most dramatic part of life, so I have to rub his back and talk to him and coax his lazy little body out of the bed each day. Today however, he was sitting up in his bed with every blanket he has in his room (which is about five, counting the two already on his bed) piled on top of him. I asked him if he was cold, and he said, “No, I not.” Well okay then. Super cute though🙂

We decided to get Arby’s at the office today so I had the Roast Turkey Farmhouse Salad with just a touch of honey mustard dressing. It was actually very good, a little small for me since I like a BIG salad and then for a snack this afternoon, a Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna Bar. That should hold me until supper this evening.

I also have a new problem. My vacuum cleaner. You may remember a few weeks ago I posted about my vacuum cleaner problem with a short in the cord resulting in my loss of sanity and a filthy house, however, the repair shop called finally and the diagnosis was not good. Not only is there a short in the cord, there is also a short in some panel on the inside of the vacuum that will cost $200 just for the part to have it fixed. Gracious. So, now I’m at a loss. It’s a good vacuum but it’s also a few years old. Do I pay the ridiculous amount to have it fixed or do I start vacuum shopping?

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Today was another beautiful day so after work, we ran around outside for as long as possible. My Rylnn did help me sweep out the garage🙂

And my azaleas out in front of my house are just stunning this year!

I have also not been doing a very good job at logging my food (and my waistline is proving that to me every single day!) so here it comes…The Return of the Eats!

Breakfast

2 of these beauties and half a Clif bar, with my two cups of coffee of course

Lunch

I had two salad bowls from the salad bar (with just a TINY bit of dressing), one slice of cheese pizza, and one cinnamon stick. This afternoon, I did have another Clif bar for a snack because I was almost getting hangry!

My legs are still screaming at me from the 40-30-20-10 workout where I think I did 239847 million lunges, so tonight my cardio was running around the yard after my baby and then I just stuck to Giselle’s Summer Ready Challenge of 100 sit-ups, 50 squats, and 25 push-ups.

Now it’s time to go catch up on Hell’s Kitchen episodes (guilty pleasure show!) and then crawl into my sweet bed!

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Rylnn and I had to do some shopping this afternoon after work, since Daddy’s birthday is tomorrow! Then we came home and changed clothes and all walked over to Papa and Gamma’s house to feed the animals and water the plants since they are camping this week. And here’s a sweet bunny we saw at the edge of the yard while we were playing outside🙂

Rylnn is such a good helper!

And here is the pictureI promised on Saturday of the swing and frame that Papa and Rylnn built while we were in Nashville.

And here is the view when you sit in it…Priceless. I absolutely love it!

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Happy Mother’s Day! After a morning of worship with both our mothers, we spent the afternoon eating a WONDERFUL shrimp boil lunch topped off with chocolate cake and then coffee, of course. I am also extremely excited to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to my beautiful sister as this is her first official Mother’s Day🙂

Apparently the day wore my Rylnn out🙂

I would also like to take a quick moment to remember those out there who no longer have their mother here on earth with them to celebrate this holiday. A mother’s love (whether birth, adopted or just a mother figure) is truly unconditional and something that I believe we will carry with us forever no matter where life takes us or what is thrown our way. Thank you to all the wonderful mothers, motherly figures, spiritual mothers, and grandmothers out there and Happy Mother’s Day!

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This morning I got to spend just a little while with my little man before we dropped him off with Papa and Gamma so Andy and I could trek down to Nashville to visit his brother and sister-in-law and baby niece, Sara. She is 7 months old and just had surgery to repair her VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect) at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.

When we got to the room, Sara was not quite asleep and not quite awake either, but she came to life quickly and it was so wonderful to see her sitting up in the bed awake with huge grins on her face the whole time we were there.

I have to say that it will also make you count your blessings when you realize there are 8 floors to this hospital, full of sick and recovering children, and when your own son has only been to the doctor a few times in his life, with the most severe diagnosis being strep throat, you have to take a second and praise God for his mercy and grace.

When we left the hospital, we made a quick (and I mean QUICK) trip to Trader Joe’s for two reasons. Number one, I wanted to get back to my Ryman and number two, that place was CRAWLING with people. It happened to be THE PLACE for everyone in Nashville today evidently, so we scanned around looking at all the wonderful treats and selected a few new things to try.

I highly recommend the Just the Clusters Chocolate Almond Granola Cereal if you like chocolate or granola at all! It is wonderful!

The Dark Chocolate Tahitian Vanilla Caramels are also wonderful and VERY rich.

We’ve never tried the Lobster Ravioli or the Butternut Squash Triangoli, but I am feeling a pasta night coming on really soon.

Meanwhile, back at Papa and Gamma’s house, my Rylnn was having a blast! He got to spend the entire day outside doing all kinds of things and he got to help them build a frame for a beautiful swing that is now sitting in my front yard…Pictures of that to come tomorrow!

Tomorrow at church, our Sunday School class has “Connect Time” which is basically breakfast for the church so I whipped up some Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies (they have oats in them so I believe that qualifies them to be a breakfast dish). I adapted this recipe just a little bit from a jar mix that someone gave me for Christmas one year.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup packed brown sugar

¾ cup sugar

1 cup chocolate chips

2 cups oats

1 ½ sticks softened butter

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Then, I turn my mixer on and just start dumping ingredients in. It’s just that easy. Then I drop them by small spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen.

This afternoon, I just got to spend a little time with my button before Andy got home and they left for a boy date… “Tis the Season” as we say in our house🙂

So I had a whole evening to myself…I honestly didn’t know what to do! First, I thought of all the things that I should do; dishes, laundry, take the trash off, spray a hornet nest that decided to start growing on the side of the house, etc. and I quickly got overwhelmed so I just decided to jump on the elliptical for 20 minutes to clear my head.

I did actually spray the hornet nest and I did take the garbage to the dumpster so I accomplished two goals and I finished a workout. Mission Completed.

I thought I could take a few minutes and update some things that I feel like I have left a little undone on my blog over the last month or so.

Coconut Oil Face Cream

I attempted this Coconut Oil Face Wash that I found on Pinterest back a little over a month ago to try and stop some horrendous break-outs on my face and the initial treatment only left my face feeling a little softer. After a few more tries, I can tell you, this does not work for me. It never stopped any break-outs and while it didn’t seem to make it worse, it sure didn’t make it any better. The good thing is, Coconut Oil is wonderful to cook with🙂

Streaming Television

We decided after much discussion about not watching nearly enough of our satellite television to make it worth the monthly payment, to cancel satellite and just streamHulu or Netflix through computers or blu-ray player. While we haven’t cancelled the satellite television yet (due to a hefty cancellation fee and not being sure about how well our new internet service will be since it was just installed yesterday) I believe we are definitely headed in that direction. I think we will save a ton of money in the long run🙂

Brooklyn’s Believers

I posted about this precious little girl, Brooklyn, about two months ago and I just wanted to let you know that according to the family’s Facebook Page she is doing really well. A post just today stated that “post-operative scans showed no evidence of residual or new disease.” Praise God!! If you get a chance, please check out her precious little face on their page, I promise you won’t regret it. I’ve never met her or any of her family, but just by reading their Facebook page and looking at theirwebsite you can tell they are just precious people!

So there’s some updates…Tomorrow we are headed to Nashville to see Andy’s 7 month old niece Sara who is still in Vanderbilt recovering (wonderfully!!) from open heart surgery and hopefully we’ll have time to make a stop at Trader Joe’s on the way back home.

When we got home yesterday, the weather was just as beautiful as it was the day before, so we played outside all afternoon yet again. Who doesn’t like bubbles?!

We did go help Papa and Gamma plant some new azaleas while Andy mowed the yard, and of course, we had to play a little while we were there too :)

My mother brought me a few boxes of old things that have been in my room at their house for over a decade now (and I know there’s more to come, Mom!) but I did happen to go through a few things in the top box and the short walk down memory lane was priceless.

Look at how cute I was fishing!

And here I am with my dad…I look just like my Momma but I act JUST LIKE MY DADDY (or so I’ve been told *wink wink) and he knew even at that age that he probably shouldn’t let me go🙂

Then I found these two Barbie’s that I thought were the most priceless gifts ever!

And lastly, my flower that I wore on my dress when I was Homecoming Queen in kindergarten. Wow.

When we got back home from Papa and Gamma’s house, Rylnn helped me weed-eat and then we all got showers and crashed. Now, we have to get ready for a big weekend including a trip to Nashville and Mother’s Day!

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Yesterday afternoon was absolutely glorious! The weather was warm, but not that KY summer humid yet, the sun was shining, we got to play outside all evening…I feel like I should be singing some Broadway song with jazz hands and a kick line🙂

I know that we are in our “terrible twos” now but I am loving this age right now! His personality is so funny and sweet and I just love watching his brain work as he tries to figure things out and come up with the right words for everything as he plays and discovers new things.

Since we watched Papa (my dad) use the bush-hog on the back of the tractor last week, Rylnn has to “put his bush-hog on” at least once or twice a day now. These may look like clamps and hinges to you, but I assure you, they are in fact a bush-hog.

He also decided that he needed to fish (again, like his Papa) and then air up his tires. I love his concentration face🙂

For supper we tried some of the stuffed peppers that I had mentioned yesterday and I thought they were great. I decided to stuff ours with quinoa, black beans, and some broccoli slaw that I sauteed for about 10 minutes over medium heat with some coconut oil, and then topped them with cheese. I used sliced Muenster Jalapeno cheese for one and then shredded Parmesan and cheddar for the other two.

I really liked them, but if I make them again, I will definitely add some garlic and some onion (for some reason my mind simply went blank yesterday and I forgot to add any seasoning except for some salt!) and I would add just about a tablespoon of cheese between the layers, because who doesn’t like more cheese?!

Quinoa Black Bean Stuffed Peppers

3-Bell Peppers

2-Cups Quinoa

1/2 –Bag Broccoli Slaw

1-Tbsp Coconut Oil

2-Cups Cheese, divided (whatever flavor you prefer, and it doesn’t have to be shredded)

1-Cup Black Beans

1-Tbsp minced garlic

½-Small onion chopped

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Sautee the broccoli slaw over medium heat with garlic and onion.

Cut the tops out of the bell peppers and place in foil covered baking dish. Stuff each pepper with quinoa, broccoli slaw mixture, and black beans, adding about a tablespoon of cheese between each layer. Top each pepper with remaining cheese and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

I believe I could also add some salsa, sour cream or my Grandmamma’s hot pepper relish to have on the side with these peppers🙂

Then we swiped some chocolate cake from Gamma (my mom) and I don’t know if I just wanted chocolate cake that bad or if my mom is just that good of a baker (it’s the second one, I promise!) but I swear it tasted better than any chocolate cake I’ve ever had🙂

Last night’s workout came fromDanica’s Blog and it was a killer. I only did the circuits through 2 times and I was done! My arms are screaming at me this morning after the last two nights of workouts, so NO ARMS this evening!

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My name is Beth Sheridan and I am a 30-year-old aspiring health and fitness freak, trying to navigate through a full-time job, a husband, and a 2-year-old boy...a born-again Christian with the firm belief that donuts could in fact be the devil. Enjoy!